COMPLAINTS

The Financial Regulator

The consumer aspect of the financial regulator has been moved to The National Consumer Agency. See Consumer Rights section below.

COMPLAINTS

The Financial Services Ombudsman

The Financial Services Ombudsman has legal powers to deal with complaints from consumers about their individual dealings with all financial services providers that have not been resolved by the providers.

The service is free.

Types of complaints the ombudsman’s office have looked at in the past include mortgage fees, insurance pay-out disputes, maternity benefit claims, life assurance disputes and disputes over over-charging of insurance premiums.

COMPLAINTS

The Ombudsman

The current ombudsman is Emily O’Reilly.

An ombudsman investigates complaints from members of the public who feel they have been unfairly treated by certain organisations. His/her office is impartial and independent. If he/she finds a complaint is justified he/she will take steps to secure redress for the complainant.

The Office of the Ombudsman investigates complaints about the administrative actions of Government Departments, the Health Service Executive, local authorities and An Post.

By the end of 2008 approximately 72,000 valid complaints had been handled by the Office. In addition, at present the Office deals with up to 10,000 queries from the public every year.

CREDIT RATING

Credit Unions

CREDIT RATING

The Irish Credit Bureau

The Irish Credit Bureau was established in 1965 and is owned by the banks and financial institutions.

The bureau is an electronic library or database that contains information on the performance of credit agreements between financial institutions (i.e. banks and building societies) and borrowers (i.e. the citizen).

It normally assesses information over a 24 month period.

Your credit rating is used by banks and financial institutions to check your dependability when it comes to loans and mortgages. You can request to see your own credit rating

DEBT

Money Advice and Budgeting Service

MABS is a national, free, confidential and independent service for people in debt or in danger of getting into debt. It is a completely confidential service and is not run by the government.

It is funded by the government but none of the information you discuss with MABS is passed on to third parties, unless you request them to negotiate on your behalf if you having problems with debt, for example.

LEGAL AID

Free Legal Advice Centre

The Free Legal Advice Centres can be found at your local Citizen’s Information Advice centre. They are staffed by qualified solicitors and can offer advice on most personal finance issues. Mortgage, repossession, family law, maintenance payments, your rights when it comes to debt collection are among the area they can help with.

They offer a drop in service and helpline. They won’t be able to represent you in legal proceedings, but they can refer you to people who can, if needed.

LEGAL RIGHTS

Citizens Information

There are citizens information bureau in most towns throughout the country. They are government funded and are there to give information or advise on a range issues including employment law, money, taxation.

They will also put you in touch with MABS. Many Citizens Information offices also offer free legal aid through the Free Legal Aid Centre, whose headquarters are in Dublin. See Legal Aid for separate contact details.